President Barack Obama is doing everything he can to ensure student loan interest rates won’t double in July, he told college journalists in a Tuesday conference call from Air Force One.
Today, interest on student loans is 3.4 percent, but the rate will double to 6.8 percent on July 1 if Congress does not take action.
Obama said he urged Congress to pass legislation that would prevent interest rates from doubling and called it an economic priority for his
administration.
Obama, who was on his way to speak with students at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said he will “take the issue to every part of the country” until Congress passes legislation to counter the matter, which he called a “tremendous blow” to students.
“I’ll be going to schools to talk to students directly about the critical
importance of the possibility that 7.4 million student loans will double unless Congress will step up and do what is needed to do,” Obama said.
Obama will visit the University of Iowa today, but he also spoke with students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday.
“I don’t want this to be a country where a shrinking number of Americans are doing really, really well, but a growing number of people are just struggling to get by,” Obama said at the UNC-Chapel Hill. “That’s not my idea of America. I don’t want that future for you; I don’t want that future for my daughters. I want this forever to be a country where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same set of rules.”
During the conference call Tuesday, Obama said the issue of doubling interest was “completely preventable,” and he hopes to make higher education available for all students.
“We can’t cut our way to prosperity,” he said. “Students need to speak up and be heard. The time to act is right now.”
Obama said he and the first lady can personally relate with students on paying off loans.
“We had enormous debt that took a lot of years to pay off,” he said. “With working families owing this much money, higher education is out of reach for their children. In America, higher education cannot be a luxury.”
Obama said his administration has taken several steps, including extending federal grants and allowing children to remain on their parents’ health insurance plan until age 26, to aid graduates in their debt.
Obama said he also hopes to increase the number of work-study jobs available.
 
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Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]